OrangeFS is a parallel file system designed for scientific computing, high-performance clusters and applications that need concurrent access to large datasets. It originated from the Parallel Virtual File System project and is designed to distribute both data and metadata across multiple storage servers.
The system provides a shared filesystem namespace while allowing clients to communicate with servers holding different parts of a file. This arrangement enables parallel applications to use several storage resources concurrently rather than depending on a single storage server.
OrangeFS combines user-space server components with different client interfaces. It also integrates with the Linux Virtual File System through an upstream kernel client, making it accessible to applications using conventional filesystem operations.
The project is used in parallel I/O research as well as production computing environments where flexible data layouts and scalable storage access are important.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Distributes file data across multiple servers for parallel access.
- Supports distributed metadata to avoid concentrating all metadata operations on one server.
- Provides an integrated Linux kernel client for normal filesystem access.
- Offers native interfaces for applications that require direct storage operations.
- Supports MPI-IO through ROMIO for parallel scientific applications.
- Provides FUSE-based filesystem access for supported client environments.
- Supports configurable file distribution and data striping policies.
- Allows data and metadata services to run on the same or separate servers.
- Supports POSIX-style operations through compatible client interfaces.
- Offers integration options for Hadoop-oriented data processing workflows.
- Provides Windows client access and macOS access through supported FUSE configurations.
- Cross-platform support – runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Website: www.orangefs.org
Support:
Developer: Omnibond, Clemson University, Argonne National Laboratory and community contributors
License: GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1
OrangeFS is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| File Systems | |
|---|---|
| HDFS | Distributed file system providing high-throughput access |
| SeaweedFS | Simple and highly scalable distributed file system |
| Lustre | File system for computer clusters |
| CephFS | Unified, distributed storage system |
| Alluxio | Virtual distributed file system |
| GlusterFS | Scale-out NAS file system |
| JuiceFS | Distributed POSIX file system |
| XtreemFS | Object-based, distributed file system for wide area networks |
| MooseFS | POSIX-compliant distributed file system |
| Quantcast File System | High-performance, fault-tolerant, distributed file system |
| OrangeFS | Multi-server scalable parallel file system |
| LeilFS | Distributed POSIX file system |
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